Downfall of Nur - And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth (2026)

There's been some meaningful comebacks recently and so it happens that all of them came back after a decade of hiatus. And Antonio Sanna's project is no different here. It'd been already 10 years since the last album signed by Downfall of Nur, EP with Selvans was released. The Italian artist currently living in Argentina brought back his music that is located somewhere between instrumental ambient and black metal and made it worth waiting for.

If you take the notion of atmospheric (black) metal and concentrate it over and over again, you'll get Downfall of Nur's soundscapes. Because this is music that may have came from the realm of angry guitars and powerful screams but there's little that reminds us of the genre's origins at the moment. It's a soundscape. Almost ambient music in a way. The album is long which makes the tracks long, almost all of them being their own wholes, their own albums. Slowly developing, reaching unbelievable places, coming back and again, like a nice evening stroll. It happens that the stroll brings you around hell that our world is turning into, but nevertheless, it's a stroll.

The atmosphere on thsi album is phenomenal. No wonder, as this album treats about the way the suffering and the grief of women shaped the history of humankind. This and the undoubted ties to the Mediterranean culture must bring the recent cinematic mega-production to one's mind, especially that the album "is not a linear or conclusive narrative, but a fragmented ritual space that opens the way to multiple layers of interpretation, where history, mythology, and human mourning converge". Non-linear, huh? Just like a certain American director likes doing stuff. I'm happy to say that And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth is my favourite piece of non-linear storytelling set in the Mediterranean world this summer.

And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth costs 7 EUR.

Check: Underground Halls of the Oldest Goddess’s Stronghold

Country: Italy/Argentina

Genre: black metal soundscape

Label: Avantgarde Music

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Jolanda Moletta - Oceanine (2026)

Italian ambient artist and "one-woman electronic choir", Jolanda Moletta resided on this blog already back in 2022. Since then, she released 4 albums, including this one: a touching ode to female artfulness. The soundscapes here have two things in common: they're could hardly be any more airy and each of them was created with a different female artist.

Inspired by the mystic presence of sea creatures like sirens and water nymphs, the ethereal soundscapes on the album enchant everyone who is reckless enough to listen. And although there's no gruesome death involved, the listener is also at risk of disappearing for some time. Waving like the sea itself, the compositions strike with the weight that is put on the siren-like vocalizations which makes all 11 tracks very coherent, even if each of them is unique in some aspects.

As said, Moletta invited 11 artists from all over Europe, including her previous collaborator, Karen Vogt as well as Yellow Belly, the artist the collaboration with whom is my numero uno on the album. The way Moletta worked is particularly interesting as all the sounds on the album are actually more or less processed vocals. "For each piece, I invited every vocalist involved to contribute a raw stem: a short, unedited melodic fragment" she adds and trying to figure out how this beautiful compositions were done is part of their magic.And just like magic, they'll remain mystery to me.

Oceanine costs 10 EUR. 

Check: Their Voices Rise Above the Waves

Country: Italy

Genre: ambient pop

Label: Beacon Sound

Jolanda Moletta - Nine Spells (2022)

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Glazyhaze - SONIC (2025)

Two years after their debut album, the Italian, "gritty yet dreamy" shoegazers, for whom the noise and the melodies can easily coexist together, are back. The new album takes the audience for a brief, but wonderful trip into the hazy soundscapes of indie rock melodies and fuzzy guitars.

The band have supported or will soon support quite big players of the noisy pop-rock music (Slow Crush, The Raveonettes, Softcult) which is great. Nothing makes me as happy as seeing artists who deserve it being recognized. And the Italians surely do. They try to balance the noisy atmosphere of shoegaze with extremely melodic pop songs, perhaps slightly towards the latter. But it works, the results are as catchy as songs can be, especially in the first part of the album with What a Feeling and Nirvana really standing out.

The song that best represents the second half is Slap, a perfect example of a well-written chorus. The album is said to touch the notion of "emotional contrasts across its two distinct halves that reflect light and dark". Its visual representation is the cover art with a match about to die down, the moment right between the two opposites. You can kind of hear it in the music too, but I wouldn't say it's the first thing that catches attention of the listener. More than the ideological basis, one focuses on how perfectly catchy the songs are. Well done.

SONIC costs 10 EUR.

Check: Slap

Country: Italy

Genre: melodic shoegaze

Glazyhaze - Just Fade Away (2023)

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Van Gogh Season - all's right with the world. (2024)

Sometimes there are bands I don't think a lot about, but each time they release something new, I discover them anew with a "I really like those guys!" thought. The Italians from Van Gogh Season (for whom this is, I believe technically speaking a debut album) with their lively, multi-layered guitar post-rock is certainly one of those bands.

It is pretty cool when a post-rock band sounds like the guys there have fun making it. The Italians' music is so diverse, while always being within the rigid forms of the genre, that it certainly feels that way. There seems to be a space to breath for every instrument and every approach to music. The melodic, almost pop rock parts border the more atmospheric ones, the piano lines carry the compositions from the very beginning and the slower pieces are as interesting as the faster ones.

Another thing is that the band's post-rock sounds very much carefree and optimistic, the atmosphere that perfectly fits the album's title. It's beautiful like a sunny day and happiness which is not that common. I won't say it's my favourite approach to the genre, but I appreciate something fresh and new. 

all's right with the world. costs 7 EUR.

Check: from then, to now

Country: Italy

Genre: multi-layered post-rock

Van Gogh Season - Versus (2021)

Van Gogh Season - Van Gogh Season, Pt. 2 (2019)

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Mondaze - Linger (2024)

Slow melodies and heavy guitars that accompany the ethereal vocals. This is the recipe for a successful album from the Italian outfit Mondaze. The band released their sophomore album last November and equipped it with everything that modern shoegazer looks for.

The band calls their music as "heavy shoegaze" and there is no two ways about it. The slow flow of heavy guitar sounds and the sad, downbeat vocals feel extremely melancholic. In fact, the layer of melancholia covers everything here like an opaque veil, making the whole album so intriguing. Especially that the songs are not particularly melodic or catchy, it is more about creating the atmosphere and the heavy guitar chaos underneath the soothing sounds of vocals. 

And this heaviness is not without a message. As the label cites, "A message on the wall reads, >“We don’t want to return to normal because normal was the problem.<”, the artists aim at critique of today's world routine: consumerism, alienation, harmful habits. I can only repeat after them the call for a change.

Linger costs 8 EUR.

Check: Linger 

Country: Italy

Genre: heavy shoegaze

Label: Bronson Recordings

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Glazyhaze - Just Fade Away (2023)

Irene Moretuzzo and Lorenzo Dall’Armellina and two artists who together formed Glazyhaze, a debuting band with a taste for dreamy and ethereal pop rock music. Their first album is called Just Fade Away and is definitely something a fan of dream pop music should check out.

This is the core of good dream pop music: swift melodies, airy backing vocals and slightly noisy guitars in the backgrounds. This all, together with the fresh but also distracted vocals by Moretuzzo, are what make Glazyhaze's debut sound as if they've played for a long time. While the melodies can be often lively and designed to make the audience dance, there are parts where the music gets slower and moodier. And usually, it's something in between: an indie pop with heavy melancholic vibes and pretty hazy atmosphere. Certainly a good debut for the dreamy outfit.

Just Fade Away costs 7 EUR.

Check: The Shadow of Your Smile

Country: Italy 

Genre: melodic dream pop

Label: Slimer Records

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Bad Pritt - Debris (2023)

The Italian artist appeared already on my blog, beck in 2018 with this self-titled album. It's the highest time to mention him again as the music on his new album, Debris, should make a lasting impression on anyone.

The musician uses various means to create his gloomy, unnerving soundscapes. The neoclassical bits in his compositions can be equally beautiful and nerve-wrecking (as they are in February 6th). The deep industrial electronica surprises the audience from time to time with the clear bass lines. The overwhelming noise that can bring madness and make you lose all the peace in your soul. Everything here is intense and I feel like this is where the "cinematic" part of Bad Pritt's music description comes to place: there's no cinematic grandeur here, but a lot of emotions and very cinematic way of expressing them. I would love to see the movie for which this would be a good soundtrack.

Debris costs 7 EUR.

Bad Pritt - Bad Pritt (2018)

Check: September 27th

Country: Italy

Genre: cinematic neoclassical

Label: Shyrec

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Timelapse Aurora - In Defeat, I See the Future (2023)

Timelapse Aurora are from Italy and they create heavily guitar post-rock music with a story to tell. This sci-fi-sounding instrumental music is shown on their first ever album called In Defeat, I See the Future.

The album is described as a "wonderment of space that is both haunting and hypnotic". While their premise suggests a heavy use of electronica in their compositions, the post-rock here is still very guitar-oriented. But the artists prove that they don't have to resort to the sci-fi electronica to make sci-fi music. The very first sounds of the album prove that sci-fi is its important piece with a sampled voice saying about living in 2355 AD, not to mention the interesting, retro-futuristic cover art or track titles that show the artist interest in space exploration. But also the music itself is very often slower, more spacial thanks to the synth sounds and samples, making it a story from somewhere in the vast universe written with very solid post-rock music.

In Defeat, I See the Future costs 5 EUR.

Check: From Mars to Jupiter

Country: Italy

Genre: sci-fi post-rock

Label: Eternal Colossus Records

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CHAIGIDEL & NERATERRÆ - Lama​š​tu (2023)

Alessio Antoni is one of the ambient artists I respect the most. This time, he joins forces with CHAIGIDEl, making it a duo of extremely dark ambient music from Italy. They released their album Lama​š​tu  through Cyclic Law in March.

Once again, Antoni delivered what can be only described as a perfect dark ambient music. The gloomy and unnerving electronic drone soundscapes are made even more touching by whispering vocals and even some throat singing vocalization in A'Arab Zaraq. This theme of oriental-sounding elements is actually the unique leitmotif throughout the album, although it's not overwhelming. Because the overwhelming part is the darkness that speaks through the duo's music so well.

Lama​š​tu costs 8 EUR.

Kegaal - Pillars: Seeds of Ares (2020)

NERATERRÆ - Scenes from the Sublime (2020)

NERATERRÆ - The Substance of Perception (2019)

Check: A'Arab Zaraq

Country: Italy

Genre: dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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Throw Down Bones - Three (2023)

The newest album from the Fuzz Club Records powerhouse is provided by the Italian Piemonte's artist from Throw Down Bones. For the trio, it is the third album in discography and they fittingly called it Three. With no doubt, it is filled with a super interesting take on instrumental music.

Although the music here is certainly based on guitars and it's mostly instrumental, I can't say it sounds like your typical post-rock music. First of all, the synthy electronica has a lot to say here: I love how the gut-reaching electronic noise dominates Optichrome and how well the smaller but viable distortion compliment the guitar compositions. This crazy post-industrial vibe rules the whole album. It makes the music go insanely fast (the pace on Loma!), hits like a bullet and make the unique and strong impression on the listeners.

Three costs 8 EUR (7 GBP).

Check: Loma

Country: Italy

Genre: post-industrial post-rock

Label: Fuzz Club Records

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Ropes Inside a Hole - A Man and His Nature (2023)

Ropes Inside a Hole (or RIAH as they were previously known) started their career five years ago with a debut album called  Autumnalia. Now, after some important changes in their lineup, they are bound to continue with the sophomore release called A Man and His Nature and it's one to keep your ear on, that's for sure.

They say that the period of the pandemics' slowness and separation gave them better conditions to focus on the music. Another new thing that the album brings, is the number of guest musicians that were invited to collaborate with the band, even from some far away places. This includes classical instruments artists (with cello, violin and saxophone), synth sounds and vocals provided by Daniel Loefgren of Suffocate For Fuck Sake. The results are pretty impressive. The lively, energetic post-rock is combined here with slower, moodier pieces with vocals (as in Distance) and the saxophone sounds (Feet in the Swamp, Gaze to the Sky). This combination works like charm and makes it very difficult not to feel entertained throughout the album's playlist. And for me, it makes it possible to call this music an ambitious art post-rock that wants to expand beyond the guitar-defined borders of the genre.

A Man and His Nature costs 7 EUR.

Check: Loss and Grief

Country: Italy

Genre: art post-rock

Label: Voice of the Unheard/Shove Records

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Submotile - One Final Summit Before the Fall (2022)

The Italian-Irish duo released their last album only a year ago and they are back again with the third one in their discography, ominously called One Final Summit Before the Fall. And I have to say, I dig the sound they achieve: the very noisy, very energetic kind of noise rock.

This sound is mostly the result of the extremely noisy and overwhelming guitar walls of noise that appear all over the album, ready to crush you in this sad but up-lifting kind of hug. Daniela Angione's dreamy, dispersed vocals have to fight their way through this guitar blizzard and these are the moments when I say "this is the shoegaze sound", especially in places like Resonica's finish.. And all of this doesn't mean that Submotile's music is not melodic. I don't know how they manage to produce this noisy but also fast-paced and melodic music so well. The overall feeling of the album certainly revolves around chaotic noise, overwhelming sound but also melodic rock and I like this combination a lot.

One Final Summit Before the Fall costs 7 USD.

Submotile - Sonic Day Codas (2021)

Check: From First Light Until Our Final Sleep

Country: Ireland/Italy

Genre: noise rock

Label: Shelflife

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Alessandro Incorvaia - It Emerged to Hold Me (2022)

Alessandro Incorvaia comes from Italy but is based in London. Although his music career seems to be pretty rich, this year's It Emerged to Hold Me is his solo debut album. It is filled with heavy ambient that comes as a result of time it was created in.

Being created during the difficult months of pandemics at its peak, the album, as the artist states, became "score and soundtrack of those months and of the process that was unfolding at that time". And fittingly, it is based on layers of distorted synths and guitars, creating very peaceful but also dangerously dark atmosphere of loneliness and nostalgia. But in time, it can get some tempo and becomes a mesmerizing trip towards hope.

Finally, the most interesting fact for me is that the cover art was done by Uls Metzger whom I know personally. Crazy coincidence.

It Emerged to Hold Me costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: A part of me and I'll take care of

Country: Italy/UK

Genre: melancholic soundscape

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GAIRO - Her (2022)

Five years after releasing their self-titled debut album, the Sardinia-based six-piece band is back with a brilliant sophomore release called Her. The combination of heavy post-metal music with slower parts, Amenra-style, but with little to none inclusion of vocals makes a lasting impression and can only be recommended.

The band calls their music a "crossing between acoustic moments, progressive rock and a selected usage of vocals", and, in fact, the band can be really quiet for a metal sextet - there are long fragments filled with acoustic guitar sounds and drones that are closer to instrumental ambient with folkish aftertaste (as in Koobi Fora). And those peaceful moments are not really devoured by the post-metal noise; rather incorporated into, with the heavier parts still very careful on creating the slower, more meaningful atmosphere - sometimes more about grandeur, sometimes, as in my favourite Apogee, more about the unnerving anxiety.

The thematic side of the album is really curious: there are some clear references to the history of humankind with the Kenyan region of Koobi Fora known for important archaeological sites and the year of the implementation of the ban on importation of slaves into the United States (1808), those are easier to decipher. What I find also extremely important is the thematic and fantastically poignant cover photo that instantly becomes one of my favourite cover arts ever. And this photo together with other visual pieces surrounding the album, makes sure that we know this music is all about the humankind and its (her?) story.

Her costs 7 EUR.

Check: Apogee

Country: Italy

Genre: instrumental post-metal

Label: Drown Within Records

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Plaisir - Foam (2021)

So the Italian-Swedish-French trio from Berlin came back last year to gift us their longest album up to date. I already posted about the dreamy but also erotica-soaked band when they had only a short single two years ago so Foam is something I really had to go back to.

First of all, what the hell? The first track's title is in Polish and translates to "salty butter/butter with salt" and the only thing my brain makes connection to is a taste of crisps. In reality it's meant ot be a "hopeful song about agony" and warns us to be "far away from butter and salt" - is it because the crisps are unhealthy? Probably not. But the certain thing is that this track shows what I like about the band the most - the way all of the musicians sing (sometimes in their own languages, sometimes as spoken word) and how it creates a chaotic but very engaging atmosphere all over the album. 

But there's more to their music. It is built on very prominent bass lines with the psychedelic hazy sounds playing less important roles than it's traditionally in dream pop. So although there's tons of oneiric atmosphere here, especially in the way the vocals cooperate, the music has a very noticeable post-punk vibe. And, what's at least as important as the atmosphere, the artists can create so catchy melodies! Cold the Paraoh or Hunting Season are best example with their tunes following me since I first heard them.

Foam costs 7 EUR.

Plaisir - Sap (2020)

Check: Masło z solą

Country: Germany, Italy, France, Sweden

Genre: ethereal wave

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Pertegò - Una (2021)

Pertegò and their emotional music appeared on my blog three years ago with their previous album Black. In the meantime, the Emilia-Romagna-based group celebrated the 10 years anniversary of their debut album and now, to underline this achievement, they showed their fourth album mischievously called Una.

The focus point for their art is nature and its forces, they are "telling stories about still free nature, they are talking about their world made of simple things and the nature that gave them birth" and fittingly, the music on the new album ranges from delicate and airy places to sky-reaching, breath-taking monuments made of sound. Just like the world around us was meant to be. The artists do that with an epic take on melancholic post-rock/prog-rock music with extremely heavy focus on creating the airy and ethereal atmosphere. The inclusion of piano keys gives it the delicate notes, the string sequences add to the whole thing's tear-jerking nostalgia, the oneiric-sounding vocals bring the element of Sacrum and simultaneously makes me think of the soundtrack for Civilization V, my favourite gaming soundtrack ever - with similar orchestral/choral take on the ethereal music. I love it so much as it goes on and delivers more and more nostalgic cinematic vibes and, simply speaking, beauty.

For the band, the album is "the end of the fifteen-year journey, a journey that has described [them] in every moment of [their] life until today" and, at the same time, marks the time of personal changes within the band's line-up. As a result, the album sounds fittingly epic (it's not always that an album means so much for a group of people) and magical.

Una costs 8 EUR.

Pertegò - Black (2018)

Check: Una

Country: Italy

Genre: orchestral ethereal post-rock

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Nightcrush - You Mark Me the Deepest (2021)

They have been releasing singles for over a year now and finally decided to show their debut LP called You Mark Me the Deepest now; Nightcrush are an Italian duo Raffaele Galasso - Alessandra Cesano, who create an interesting take on ethereal wave music.

This is indeed an interesting one. The artists use a lot of synths and don't shy away from the wave genres as far as vocals and the overall mood are concerned, but at the same time they drown everything deep in the ethereal, dreamy atmosphere. The vocals are very much dispersed, shoegaze-style, the melodies withdrawn and hidden in the airy noise that is present in every second of the release. At the same time, you can hardly say it's not a loud playlist, but the massiveness of the sound builds up very slowly so you can hardly notice that a dispersed, ambient-pop like track turns into a noise soundscape shoegaze fans won't say no to. I especially like this in Lonely Sea that catches the way an actual sea creates a noise that exists mostly in the background of consciousness.

But it doesn't mean the Italians can't do some serious, full frontal noise. Moonpearl is a track the intention of which is to crush the audience from the first notes. I love how slow but steadily moving their music feels, it's not rapid like an avalanche but profoundly inevitable like glaciers. Very interesting take on noisy music.

You Mark Me the Deepest costs 7 EUR.

Check: Lonely Sea

Country: Italy

Genre: post-punk shoegaze

Label: Shunu Records

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Perseid - Out of the Blue (2021)

Perseid is an ambient music artist based in the Italian city of Torino. There's next to nothing about him on the Internet except for the debuting (most probably) album called Out of the Blue. 

The album is served with a cover art depicting some particularly ethereal state of nature and it may be a perfect description of the artist's music. Just like the island on the cover, we are being covered by a thick and airy sound cloud. The drones we are presented with are heavy and airtight but they feel extremely sad and melancholic at the same time. You know that there's no place for hurried, careless movement here - everything stays in the state of beautiful, motionless noise. For the drone lovers.

Out of the Blue costs 5 EUR.

Check: Silvaplana

Country: Italy

Genre: moody drone

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WatchCamp September-October'21 with Lumari, Midsommar, The Never Not, stars on fire, XIX

Lumari - Doors and Corners

A Minnesota-based debut; the noisy pop band shows that they know how to create melodic and loud music with their first single delivering some interesting airy and atmospheric pop with super fun chorus and angelic-like vocals. The single costs 1 USD.

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Midsommar - Summer's Over

This new Polish band released two singles so far and one thing is certain: the capital city-based band already enriches the fairly narrow dream pop scene here, with the extremely ethereal compositions with thick atmosphere and Alia Fay's beautiful vocals. The debut EP is coming very, very soon. The single costs whatever you want to pay.

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The Never Not - Thorn Resistance

A well-crafted guitar post-rock music, this is what the audience can find on the Russian project's third single ever. Artiom Kurylow shows here some interesting instrumental sounds with particularly mighty guitar and a good piece of noisy finish. The single costs whatever you want to pay.

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stars on fire - Ready, Steady, Go!

Lo-fi bedroom gaze without much of the twee-like happiness but with tons of atmosphere enchanted in the whisper-like vocals and lively but non-overwhelmingly noisy instruments. Listeners will find the melodies very charming and that alone can be the best point about the South Korean artist's music. The two tracks cost 5 USD.

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XIX - Arcobaleni / Neve

The young Italian electronic music artist Marco Anulli gives us his new single with two tracks created with the experimental and noisy vibes in mind. They both feel fresh and curiously complex and at the same time present moody, almost ethereal, atmosphere. The two tracks cost whatever you want to pay.

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Van Gogh Season - Versus (2021)

The Italian post-rockers from Van Gogh Season for the first appeared on my blog back in 2019 with their second EP. Now they are back with more material. Although it's called an EP, Versus is considerably longer and contains some fresh and exciting instrumental music.

They admit to take inspirations from bands such as Maybeshewill and sleepmakeswaves - very guitar-oriented music with tons of energy and excitement. No wonder they describe their own music as "combining energetic riffs with vigorous build-ups and calm pianistic sections" - the part about piano sounds may be even an understatement: all of the compositions are based on the beautifully composed piano passages with guitars adding the post-rock's dark energy to the mix. The tracks are quite complex in every aspect: the melodies and pace change often and with great results, there are also precious details like voice samples (sometimes from quite unorthodox sources like Emma Stones' lines from La La Land) and electronic tidbits from time to time. 

From my perspective, Kracovia is the most interesting track here. Not only is it the fastest and the most powerful one here, not only is it finished in an impressive and surprising way, it's also somehow about the city I live in and it makes me curious. I would love the band to come here, that's for sure.

Versus costs 7 EUR.

Van Gogh Season - Van Gogh Season, Pt. 2 (2019)

Check: Kracovia 

Country: Italy

Genre: piano-based post-rock

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